as in hijinks
wildly playful or mischievous behavior
their madcap buffoonery turned the duo into the nation's hottest comedy act
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Recent Examples of buffoonery
Certainly hope none of you will be complicit in this buffoonery.
—
Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 23 May 2025
The quarterback with a rocket arm had moments of brilliance and moments of buffoonery.
—Jim Reineking, USA Today, 6 May 2025
His is a sort of erudite buffoonery that consistently tap-dances between clever, self-aware, and patently stupid.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 Mar. 2025
Certainly, an irreverent portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte is warranted, but at two and a half hours of alternating brutality and buffoonery, this movie really tries one’s patience.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 9 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for buffoonery
Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 23 May 2025
The quarterback with a rocket arm had moments of brilliance and moments of buffoonery.
—Jim Reineking, USA Today, 6 May 2025
His is a sort of erudite buffoonery that consistently tap-dances between clever, self-aware, and patently stupid.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 Mar. 2025
Certainly, an irreverent portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte is warranted, but at two and a half hours of alternating brutality and buffoonery, this movie really tries one’s patience.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 9 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for buffoonery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for buffoonery
Noun
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Finally, after plenty of clowning, Taylor Swift has revealed that her 12th album is on the way, titled The Life of a Showgirl.—
Tom Smyth,
Vulture,
13 Aug. 2025
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This is a work in which the slapstick clowning and the tricky verbal non sequiturs should be merely the surface for roiling undercurrents of anguish, futility, despair and fear.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Sep. 2019
Noun
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Only an Aries, like Lily, can take Barney’s jabs in a joking way.—
Lisa Stardust,
PEOPLE,
19 Sep. 2025
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When Peanut pulled his second escape act, his owners knew where to look and handled Peanut's disappearance in a joking manner.—
Michael Nied,
People.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
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This Survivor 49 challenge tomfoolery actually began before the season even started filming.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Oct. 2025
-
Rite of passage or midnight tomfoolery?—
Jake Allen,
IndyStar,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
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As for Abdul-Mateen, the clownery will resume for him on Broadway.—
Jessica Wang,
EW.com,
1 Sep. 2022
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Tirhakah Love is a senior writer at New York Magazine and the host of the new evening newsletter Dinner Party, a daily email that touches on all things entertainment — that means film, television, music, tech, and gaming — plus politics and corporate clownery.—
Vulture,
Vulture,
29 Apr. 2022
Noun
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Butch Baker, who was Henry County sheriff until 2014, recalled an incident in which Bertram was accused of inappropriate horseplay at the community corrections office.—
Tony Cook,
IndyStar,
2 July 2025
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The action anime feature for everyone who couldn’t get enough of the horseplay in The Two Towers has finally cantered onto Max.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
1 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The whole of humanity doesn’t fit tidily into three acts, even assuming as much frame-breaking foolery as Wilder allows.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2022
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Political pranking is traditionally thought of as benign foolery targeting the powerful.—
Stanislav Budnitsky,
The Conversation,
19 Apr. 2022
Noun
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The scene doesn’t go as planned, leading its irate French director Caroline Lescot (Nathalie Richard) to cause a slapstick ruckus, shot at a distance by Köhler’s camera.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
28 Sep. 2025
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As if Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late-night wasn’t enough, South Park put FCC chair Brendan Carr through a grueling gauntlet of slapstick pain in its latest episode, Wednesday, Sept. 24.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
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And for those who love a statement, Chloe’s plexiglass wedges and Miu Miu’s apron dress injected just the right dose of playfulness into the mix.—
Rhonda Richford,
Footwear News,
8 Oct. 2025
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The child’s name, Glen/Glenda, is an overt reference to Ed Wood’s cult camp classic Glen or Glenda, and the presence of the real Jennifer Tilly on the set of a fictional, in-universe Chucky movie only add’s to the film’s metatextual playfulness.—
Samantha Allen,
Them.,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Buffoonery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/buffoonery. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.
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